The privilege many hard-working people have enjoyed in our country is because they applied themselves diligently regardless of their color, gender, ethnicity or race. Today, in America, opportunity is available to nearly everyone. Maybe that was not so true decades ago, but it is certainly true in the U.S. today. However, for people who want to either issue or receive free handouts, it is difficult to understand that personal success and accomplishments are much more rewarding than charity.
In this essay, I will mostly address the essential aspects of the Marxist ideological dogma and its relevance to the “white privilege” doctrine. For more specific information on this subject, read Toby Young’s article titled “No need to plead guilty: The fashionable doctrine of ‘white privilege’ is fatally undermined by the facts” published in the journal The Critic in December 2019.
For neo-Marxist activists, a complete destruction of capitalism is the only way to end racial oppression and social injustice.
Marxists define Marxism as a system of philosophical, economic and socio-political views that make up the worldview of the working class and the revolutionary transformation of the world, the socio-economic development of society, and human moral behavior and set of beliefs. It is also a method for the revolutionary movement of the working class toward a destruction of the capitalist free enterprise and market economic system and, subsequently, a creation of the socialist society with its command/controlled economy, abolishment of privately-owned commercial property, discouragement of religion, strict and blatant intellectual censorship and centralized form of government.
In short, Marxism is a radical revolutionary teaching for the working class around the world at all stages of their supposed movement for peace, freedom, equality and a “better life” under socialism. This Marxist ideology and teaching clearly resembles, even by admission of their followers, the progressive neo-Marxist socialist rhetoric, namely: “Black Lives Matter,” today’s “ANTIFA,” “white privilege” and “systemic racism.”
Today, neo-Marxism in America divides a society between oppressor and oppressed, identifies the systems by which the oppression takes place and outlines the methods or tactics (e.g., BLM, today’s ANTIFA, “systemic racism,” “structural racism,” “mental racism”) for how “white privilege” doctrine is supposed to change our socio-economic system, moral behavior and traditional set of beliefs. For neo-Marxist activists, a complete destruction of capitalism is the only way to end racial oppression and social injustice.
It’s imperative that in a free democratic society someone is voicing an opposition to the current neo-Marxist groupthink movement in our country.
Historically, however, Marxist revolutionary theory has never achieved its practical and ultimate success by replacing one social class with another. In fact, every socialist country has proven to be a remarkable socio-economic failure. These include the former Soviet Union, East European countries, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mongolia, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea.
As Charles Murray, a prominent American sociologist, in his book “Coming Apart” stated: “Changing the new upper class by force majeure [greater force] won’t work and isn’t a good idea in any case. The new upper class will change only if its members decide that it is in the interest of themselves and of their families to change. And possibly also because they decide it is in the interest of the country they love.”
It’s imperative that in a free democratic society someone is voicing an opposition to the current neo-Marxist groupthink movement in our country. Sadly, radical neo-Marxists don’t really want to discuss anything of substance. Rather, they are just soapboxing to anyone who will listen to their “bumper sticker” narrative, namely: “white privilege,” “Black Lives Matter,” “systemic racism,” “structural racism,” and today’s “ANTIFA.”
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It’s really amazing how this groupthink has permeated our culture, especially among those who consider themselves to be well educated, knowledgeable and intelligent. There will be no discussion with this groupthink — just bickering and diatribes. Indeed, there are many similarities between today’s reality and the absurd “reality” of the dystopia of George Orwell’s novel “1984.” History was a big part of Orwell’s novel — Big Brother had no tolerance for any history other than what Big Brother said.
As Americans we must exercise our constitutional freedoms, peaceful expression of thought, and constitutional voting rights instead of rioting and destroying historic monuments and public and private property.
The writer was raised in the former Soviet Union before settling in the U.S. in 1978. He moved to Juneau in 1986 where he has taught Russian studies at the University of Alaska, Southeast. He is now director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center and has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography.
The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the Alaska Watchman.
